Flying

You're probably familiar with the four operators that dominate the fractional-jet-share business: CitationAir, Flexjet, Flight Options and–the biggest of the big, with more than half the market–NetJets. But if you're shopping for a share, those aren't your only choices.

Lufthansa is weighing possible new options for providing executive charter services through its Lufthansa Private Jets service. The process could lead to a resumption of its alliance with NetJets Europe, with a decision on this expected next month.

When you travel internationally, do you spend too much time thumbing through translation dictionaries and trying to pronounce unfamiliar words? Help has arrived in the form of Google Translate, a free iPhone app that covers 58 languages-everything from Afrikaans, Albanian and Arabic to Vietnamese, Welsh and Yiddish.

Four years ago, when I last wrote about the Cessna Citation Mustang entry-level twin jet, customer deliveries had just begun. Since then, more than 500 have been ordered and about 300 have been delivered. I've had a chance to log some simulator, cockpit and cabin time and talk to several happy Mustang owners.

You may be a VIP, but if you've flown on executive helicopters, you've likely had to sit knee-to-knee with other executives on perches better suited for horse jockeys. Even the slick Sikorsky S-76-in production since the 1970s and widely considered the gold standard for corporate rotorcraft-can seem a bit confining with six adult male passengers aboard.

Not long ago, the idea of selling fractional shares in business jets looked like a winner. Industry pioneer NetJets-which Warren Buffett had acquired for Berkshire Hathaway in 1998-appeared prosperous, and so did the several other companies that had formed to take advantage of the business model.

Quote/Unquote

“"How many leaders actively seek out and encourage views alien and at odds with their own? All too few...Who in your organization serves as your Challenger In Chief? Interrogating the choices you are considering making? Making you consider the uncontemplated, the unimaginable and that which contradicts or refutes your position? And also challenging you?"”

-Noreena Hertz, author of Eyes Wide Open: How To Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World